No fan consensus on Line policy of general admission

Some students have been opposed to it for years, but general-admissions seating is coming to Penn basketball this fall, no doubt about it.

The first 500 students who participate in The Line will still have access to the best seats, but none will be reserved, a policy that Athletic Department officials hope will encourage students to arrive before tipoff and centralize the section.

The more expensive chairback seats on the south side of the court will no longer be part of the student section. Instead, all students will sit behind the west end basket - the lower section for Line participants, the upper one for single-game ticket buyers.

An informal poll of students indicated what the Athletic Department has always known: There is no consensus when it comes to improving attendance. Most students, but not all, said that the changes would not impact their decision to buy season tickets. But many were disappointed that there are no alternatives to sitting in the west end section and no guarantees of cheering with friends.

Nursing junior Amy Matta sat in the west end section for the past two years but was considering an upgrade to a chairback this time. She was frustrated that they would not be available and dubious that the chance to sit closer to the action would change the time that students show up to games. (Penn students are notorious for arriving at or after tipoff.)

"In the past, especially at [less-attended] games, people would just move down anyway," Matta said. "I'm still going to go to the games because I love all the school spirit and I love Penn basketball. But it's kind of a shame, because I feel like the kids that do The Line are the kids that have the most passion. They should deserve the better, reserved seats."

This being the attendance policy, a differing opinion was not far away.

"I don't think it'll encourage fewer people to go to the games," said Wharton senior Nicklaus Daley, who served as a Line leader and Red and Blue Crew member last season. "Instead, people who might otherwise say 'Oh, it's Dartmouth, I won't go,' might now say 'Here's our chance to get front-row seats.'"

Not even those who have had front-row priviliges in the past will keep them this year, associate athletic director Alanna Shanahan said. Line leaders, the guys dressed up as cows or tacos will all have to get to the Palestra earlier if they want to get in the opposing point guard's face.

Athletic director Steve Bilsky had argued that "there are no bad seats at the Palestra" and that students would sit almost anywhere as long as it was close to the court.

But Engineering sophomore David Sobel sat in one of the few non-chairback seats on the south side last year and loved the view from the Palestra's corner. He said the decision to remove them from the student section was "annoying."

When he returned to campus this year, Sobel had been hoping to score the same seat again. Now, he's debating whether to buy season tickets at all.

"I was planning on it, but since the changes, I'm not sure what I'm going to do," he said.

---